In some data-centric computational systems, computations performed on data are invoked at a frequency that is equivalent to the frequency at which updates to the data occur. For example, a “trigger” might be specified that is associated with certain data in a database. When the data in the database is modified in some way, the associated trigger causes certain computations defined with respect to the data to be performed. For instance, a computation or other types of processing might be performed on the data in order to generate one or more new data values from the data. The new data values might then be stored in the database or in another location. Consumers might then request and utilize the newly generated data values.
If the frequency at which the data is updated in the example described above is greater than the frequency at which consumers request the data, then computational resources are being wasted. For example, a computation may be performed in the manner described above each time certain data is updated. The data might, for example, be updated one hundred times per minute and, therefore, the computation on the data is also performed one hundred times per minute. If a consumer only requests the results of the computation only one time per minute, then ninety-nine computations per minute more than necessary are being performed. This excessive performance of the computation may be considered a waste of computational resources.
One way to address the problem described above is to perform the computation on the data in response to receiving a request for the results of the computation. By performing the computation only “on-demand” in this way, the waste of computational resources described above may be minimized or even eliminated. This mechanism, however, might impose significant latency (i.e. the time from when a request for the data is submitted to the time a response to the request is received) on the consumers of the data. This latency might be unacceptable in certain applications.
The disclosure made herein is presented with respect to these and other considerations.